Station needs an upgrade
AFTER walking the Festival Way and field footpaths to Nailsea with a couple of friends last Sunday evening we caught one of GWR’s newly restored short-formed Castle Class HSTs back to Parson Street station.
Sadly, Parson Street, no longer accustomed to entertaining such high-status rolling stock, could only accommodate the leading two carriages, forcing passengers to move to cars A and B to access Parson Street’s post rationalisation reduced platform length.
With the MetroWest phase one rail improvements progressing at full steam ahead Parson Street station, like Newquay Airport for the G7, needs an upgrade of its platforms to properly serve the future strengthened trains that will undoubtedly call for events at Ashton Gate and Ashton Court.
This badly needed improvement is a result of a local rail’s enhancement virtuous circle, kickstarted over a decade ago with Bristol City Council’s funding of an extra train on the Severn Beach Line.
This extra train showed the way to the next enhancement and then the next, a process that has brought us the completed four tracking of Filton Back, the current remodelling of Bristol East Junction and will bring a reopened Portishead line.
A positive feedback loop for Bristol’s local rail and long may it continue.
Eric Wildman Alveston